Category: Dr, Cubie KIng talks AI

Over the past year or so, I’ve written and spoke passionately about future workforce changes that are expected as we move into the 4th industrial revolution. Research conducted by the Brookings Institute, The World Economic Forum, and McKinsey & Co (to name a few) all point to workforce changes the likes our generation has never seen before.

Everything from robots eliminating some 41 million American jobs by 2030, to the rise of gig workers has now all come into focus, as the United States and the world deal with the new coronavirus (CoViD 19). Not even the best algorithms models could have predicted the workplace changes we see happening before our very eyes. Virtually overnight, this virus has caused millions of workers to become “remote workers” and the American workforce landscape will never be the same.

This new way of working will require new skills and strategies for engaging, inspiring, and rallying your team around a shared vision. More than ever before, leaders will have to reimagine and create a new narrative around how they reward soft skills such as emotional intelligence, critical thinking, complex problem solving, judgement and decision making, people management, and those who can exercise cognitive flexibility.

Take a cold hard look at these skills, because according to the experts named above, the demand for these so called “soft skills” will see an increase of nearly 24% over the next 30 years.

Study this list again and you will see that these are the skills organizations desperately need during any crisis, especially this one. Who can think outside the box? Who can you count on to apply critical thinking and remain calm under pressure. Who understands the 4-Quads of emotional intelligence and can teach it to other members of the team. When it come to judgement and decision making, which of your leaders can effectively lead teams remotely and still inspire them to greatness.

Now is the time to help your supervisors, managers, and leaders with reinventing themselves for the future. Where do you start? By helping them hone the skills that are considered the skills of the future.

According to Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, formal assessments and managers surveys being used today are not very accurate. She posits that by better understanding data patterns and adjacent skills, IBM AI is better able to zero in on an individual’s strengths.

She says that manager surveys or formal assessments are too subjective and believes managers can infer and be more accurate using data.

The problem with today’s assessments is they display the skills the employee has now but does not show whether these skills will be in high demand in the future. And more importantly if said skills fit into the company’s strategic plan for the future. Employees need a clearer career path and getting a true assessment of their strengths for the future is now critical.

She believes that HR departments need to move from being problem-based (dealing with poor performers) to solution- based- helping employees with updating their skillsets.

AI is now being used to understand the individual better than the HR person or manager could alone. AI finds the patterns in the data, so results are not based on hypothesis and suppositions.

Rometty says, “I expect AI will change 100 per cent of jobs in the next 10 years.” IBM’s HR has acquired a patent for its “predictive attrition program” which was developed with Waton. The program is unique in that it can predict which employees are high flight risk.

With a better understanding of an employee’s real strengths, the formal assessment, using AI technology, will play a major role in career planning and talent retention well into the future. Through data analysis, we get a better picture of employees from many facets of their work life.

Formal assessments using AI technology is another way leading companies are using predictive analytics to assist them with redesigning their workforce for the future.

Simply stated. People analytics is people related data (i.e. employee data) being used to inform and improve numerous types of HR, management, and business decisions. These decisions help those operating within the organization’s human system perform better. The kinds of data a particular organization focuses on depends on their industry and specific business issues.

Sophisticated companies now realize the need to pinpoint why people join their organization in the first place, those likely to succeed, and who will make the best leaders. They also need to know those likely to leave and when, as a part of their talent retention strategies.

Today, people analytics brings together HR and business data from different parts of the business to assist organizations with everything from selecting high-performing job applicants, analyzing engagement and culture, pinpointing what is needed to deliver high-quality customer service, identifying leadership development candidates, and high-value career paths, all the way to analyzing flight risk for the company’s top talent. All crucial data points given today’s competitive work environment.

Leader organizations are quietly but aggressively investing in analytics offerings, hiring people analytics staff, building people analytics teams to clean up their data, and developing people management models that is transforming their businesses.

Driven by competitive pressures, Deloitte’s research now confirm that fully 77 percent of all organizations believe people analytics is important, as multi-year workforce planning has move to the top of the agenda for executive teams around the world.

How about your organization? Are you seizing the opportunity to take people data (from interviews, productivity reports, performance reviews, sales reports, internal surveys, and a host of other data that you are already collecting) to make better management decisions?

Get a clue from tech companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Spreaker, LinkedIn and many others who use data in positive ways to inspire better employee performance.

People management and talent retention are now CEO level issues, and data-driven predictive analytics are helping C-suite executives understand

(1) why top talent chooses to leave organizations,

(2) the ability to predict retention within weeks (with 95% accuracy) and

(3) strategic steps to prevent their top talent from departing.

Leader companies like AOL, Google, Pfizer, Facebook, SAB Miller, Walmart, IBM, Oracle, ADP, and others are using people analytics to build better leadership models and gain a competitive edge by understanding all elements of their workforce. This will be the new normal for HR. People management analytics are also being used to

(4) develop better hiring models (such as how many times to interview candidates for open positions, for

(5) studying which employees are most at risk of committing ethical transgressions, and much more.

A recent study revealed that 80% of HR professional score themselves low in their ability to use analytics. As people analytics takes hold, data-driven decision will become the norm across all parts of HR.

My recent consultant travels to NM, MO, AK, TX, WA, PR, and CA has confirmed that People Management will be one of the most sought-after skills of the future. We are witnessing definitive gaps in people skills new leaders have and those skills organizations say they need.

Although we are in the mist of one of the greatest industrial revolutions of our time, where (according to the World Economic Forum, Brookings Institute and other research organizations), artificial intelligence, robots and machines will replace 41 million people by the year 2030, yet one skill that will be in high demand will be people skills.

How ironic. As we see more robots added to our work lives, people are losing the ability to work with and communicate with other humans. Recently, I listened to an interview with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook (where he admitted that he has always struggled with his public image (or one could say- communications skills). No wonder, since people are not having (live) one-on-one interactions with one another on these types of platforms. HR will have to pay close attention to this area of leader development.

Here is what my recent travels have uncovered. Organizations are asking for leadership development training to:

(1) show leaders how to hire the right people from the outset,

(2) inspire a shared vision (or collaboration skills),

(3) strategies for complex problem solving

(4) sound judgement and decision making skills,

(5) how to get team members working with their leader instead of against her/him,

(6) conflict resolution and management,

(7) negotiation skills when working with difficult personalities (or coordination with others),

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT has taken center stage in organizations around the country and will require even more attention in the future. What is your organization doing to train new leaders on these vital people skills?

“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. Its scale, scope, and complexity…will be unlike anything humankind has ever experienced before.”

-Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum

The workplace, as we’ve known it is about get a major makeover, and it’s happening rapidly, yet quietly.

What is causing these rapid changes? The rise of artificial intelligence, robots, and machines. From sea to shining sea, these changes will be felt globally.

I know. Most people would rather hear only good news, because we are wired this way. And often the bearer of bad news gets hated on.

However, be it as it may, these are not normal times, and everyone punching a clock should pay close attention to what is happening in today’s job market.

The workplace platform has already shifted, and most workers haven’t even noticed. Here are some statistics every worker and every organization should familiarize themselves with.

A recent *study of Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) from 371 leading global employers, representing 13 million employees, across 9 industry sectors, in 15 major developed and emerging economies (this was a huge study), found the following:

1. Artificial intelligence, robots and machines will eliminate jobs at a much faster pace beginning in 2020. The study revealed that over five million jobs will be lost by 2020, and another 36 million jobs will be eliminated by 2030. These are shocking statistics.

2. Today, only 42% of companies rely solely on salaried (or permanent) employees. The very idea of permanency for employees is on a downward trajectory, and there is every indication from CHROs that this trend will continue well into the future.

3. These CHROs expect gig workers to grow by 28% over the next year.

4. They expect free-lance workers to grow by 33% over the next year.

5. They expect contract workers to grow by 37% over the next year.

This new “ecosystem” being put in play by leader organizations around the world will be the new normal. The reason? The speed at which technology is pushing new products and services to market requires, no demands, that companies operate with flexible and nimble workforces. Thus, workforces must be nimble and equipped with up-to-date skills- at all times.

Virtually every company now has to compete globally in order to stay in business. It’s no longer a choice as to whether companies want to operate like this, it’s a mandate that they operate using this new platform.

Here are two additional statistics that should get the attention of human resources departments everywhere. According to the Brookings Institute- of Millennials and Generation Z (workers currently 18-35 years old):

1. 75% plan to start their own businesses (they will profit from their own talents and skills – thus, causing global talent pools to shrink significantly).

2. Only 25% believe that an invention they create belong to the company they work for. They believe they should be the be the ones profiting from their own inventions,

This is a major sea change from the Baby Boomer generation (which until now, provided the largest workforce for employers). This new generation of ecosystem workers will alter the course of every company on the planet.

What are you doing to update your workforce skillsets for the new industrial revolution that will be lead by artificial intelligence, robots and machines?

Today’s workers are caught between a rock and a hard place. What do they do when they see the world of work changing at a frightening pace due to artificial intelligence, robots and machines, yet the organizations where they currently work is doing very little to inform, educated or prepare workers for the future.

The answer is to take matters into your own hands. If the organization where you currently work is not upskilling its workforce for the future, then your job may be in jeopardy.

Don’t wait any longer. Like a child, get aggressive with educating yourself and conduct your own research. Find out what skill sets will be in high demand in the future, and what training classes are required. Get to those classes and courses.

Next, find companies and organizations that are hard at work preparing their workforces for the future, go to their websites and social media pages and find out the direction they are heading in.

If it matches your future workplace desires, then prepare yourself accordingly. The one word I would use to describe what your actions should be at this point it is -aggressive. Get aggressive and get aggressive now.

The workplace is changing faster than most workers realize. Be one of the smart ones- prepare yourself now. There is an old wise saying-

“Dig the well long before you thirst.”

The 4th Industrial revolution will have many job lost casualties, but you don’t have to be one of them.